Did anyone else receive one of these? According to their web site, US Code Title 13, sections Section 141 and Section 193 your response is required by law.
In reality, those sections outline that The Secretary (who is presumably defined elsewhere) can take surveys as a part of their census process. It is Section 221 that requires you to respond:
Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary, or by any other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the Secretary or authorized officer, to answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in connection with any census or survey provided…
That’s just a crock.
Oh, sure, census information is useful and all that. It’s just the principal of it. I guess I’ll have to ask the nice lady who came to my door for some evidence that she is an authorized officer or employee of the Deparment of Commerce, or a bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of The Secretary.
Heck, I’d pay the $100 if it weren’t for Title 18, Section 3571 (allegedly Section 3559 as well, but that seems to deal with imprisonment and not monetary fines). With it on the books, the “not greater than $100” fine becomes “not greater than $5000” fine. That really blows.
Comments
718 responses to “American Community Survey”
Is it 90 days total from when you first rec’v the ACS or do they harass..er, visit and call for 90 days? I rec’d my 2 copies of the ACS survey back in March and just started receiving visits within the past 2 weeks. The pattern is a phone call (I never answer the land line and don’t have caller ID) then a visit within a few hours. I’ve only been home once when they visited, the other time I didn’t answer the door. They always leave something in the door…one letter was addressed “dear friend”….how funny is that?? I had 3 visits this week alone, 2 from the field rep and one from a supervisor. Surprisingly, their home phone numbers are on their cards and can be traced via Google to their home addresses, which are not far from mine. I’m angry that our hard earned tax dollars are paying for these calls and visit. The ACS is a very inefficient tool to use for deciding where funding will be distributed. There are other more efficient ways to do this.
I will not be giving them anymore information than what I answered on the short census form…number of people who live in my house and that we are all American.
THanks for all your posts. They have been a great support to me!
Hey Ron and all just looked at my ACS and duplicate 2010 CB form neither form asks for SS numbers!! I would be pretty upset too!! Good luck man!! let us know how you make out!
accidentally unsubbed so I am resubbing disregard this message 😉
Ron,
While the CB ran a study to see how willing the public is in disclosing social security numbers, the 2010 and the current ACS doesn’t ask for SS#. The field reps are not to ask for those numbers either. The CB website has a copy of the current form. I’d get Lifelock or something similar to lifelock to protect your identities.
Hello Ron,
I don’t believe the 2010 Census or the ACS ask for social security numbers. If you did fill out a form that asked for that, you had better verify that it isn’t fraud. It’s bad enough dealing with the real thing!
Just checking in, another envelope left on my door today by Jerry, the field representative. Four visits, so far, in 10 days. Poor guy, Dundee is one of the worst places to have to drive through in Oregon. I bet that is why he did not come on Friday, LOL!
Can i get in trouble for an email like this sent to the census bureau?
We were recently visited by Mary Anne Jordy about the Census form and my wife refused to give any answers because we already mailed them back weeks ago. This does not make me feel comfortable about our personal information with the US Census Bureau. The information we provided includes personal social security numbers and date of births of all my family members so I am not pleased that your office has lost this information. I suggest you research for our survey further and if any of my family members end up with identity theft of any personal information I am holding your office accountable.
Can i get in trouble for an email like this to the US Census?
We were recently visited by Mary Anne Jordy about the Census form and my wife refused to give any answers because we already mailed them back weeks ago. This does not make me feel comfortable about our personal information with the US Census Bureau. The information we provided includes personal social security numbers and date of births of all my family members so I am not pleased that your office has lost this information. I suggest you research for our survey further and if any of my family members end up with identity theft of any personal information I am holding your office accountable.
aversion training was an interesting read…it’s clear the people here have not taken that class….I’m safe!!
Thanks again all!
this is not true! I gave a CLEAR refusal and they are still coming back….next time will be a CLEAR and RUDE refusal and a not so polite invitation for them to LEAVE MY PROPERTY